Description

This item, published during the brief period when Daimler Passenger Vehicles Division was part of the Jaguar group, before becoming involved in the multiple vehicle crash known as “British Leyland”, somehow typifies the products of the contemporary British Automotive Industry. From a distance it looks good quality, but on close examination the “leather” turns out to be hardboard, covered with a slightly slimy plastic, and the binding is of the cheap plastic comb variety.

Having said that, the content is of interest, featuring photos of the very earliest Daimler buses, and two long-standing customers, Coventry Corporation Transport and Birmingham City Transport, have pages illustrating their purchases over several decades.

A feature is made of The Daimler Roadliner, in various guises, a single deck bus or coach chassis built by Daimler between 1962 and 1972. Notoriously unreliable, it topped the 1993 poll by readers of Classic Bus as the worst bus type ever, beating the Guy Wulfrunian into second place. It was very technologically advanced, offering step-free access twenty years before other single deckers; as a coach, it was felt by industry commentators to be in advance of contemporary UK designs, which was probably its downfall.